New Writing Venture: HubPages!

Just when I was starting to feel disappointed with my writing endeavors, along comes HubPages! What took me so long to sign up there, only the Universe knows. All I can say is that in the last 4 days that I have been a member, I have had more traffic, views and comments on my 'Hubs' than I ever received on Infobarrel in four months. Part of this, of course, is because Infobarrel is much younger in internet years, being a start-up by four guys trying to make a go of it. I totally and completely respect this, as I am a businesswoman myself and began with nothing--zero--from the ground up. However, from the experiences I have had over the last four months on Infobarrel, compared to the last FOUR DAYS on HubPages, the differences are staggering. I'll explain....

1. Instant Publishing: At Infobarrel, approval/publishing of an article can take 1-3 days. They say they try to publish articles within 24 hours which I did experience about 50% of the time. However, the guys are based in Canada, and do not work on weekends or holidays (and remember they have different holidays than the U.S.). So if you have questions, problems and/or submitted articles on Friday or later, don't expect an answer/approval until Monday or Tuesday.

I had a few issues with my articles on HubPages, and received near immediate responses OVER THE WEEKEND from their team so I could fix them. Simply amazing, and very refreshing.

2. User Friendliness: Now granted, I found Infobarrel to be very easy to navigate and understand. Initial set-up with AdSense, Amazon, etc. was admittedly a bit of a struggle, but the forums were very friendly and helpful, and everything was set up very quickly. HubPages offers the same ad sharing opportunities and more, with direct links for sign up directly on the 'earnings' page, so if you don't already have your accounts, you can sign up very easily.

In addition, they offer ad sharing for eBay and their own earnings program, giving you more opportunities to earn money from your Hubs, and more control over your Amazon promotions. While the percentages are a bit different for ad share (Infobarrel offers 75% to the writer, HubPages offers 60%), the traffic at HubPages is so vast it makes up for the difference right there. For example; in the four months at Infobarrel, I have received exactly ONE ad click, and very little impressions. In the four days at HubPages, I have already made money from impressions with only seven Hubs, or articles.

3. External Links: Infobarrel only allows you two 'self-serving' or external links within any one article. As far as I can tell, there are no limits to external links on HubPages whether they are links to your own websites or blogs, or other web pages that pertain to your Hub's subject. It makes so much sense, really.

4. Quality: Quality is a HUGE issue with me, and I have struggled with some of the content on Infobarrel not being what I would call quality. I do a fair amount of reading of other people's articles and works, and have to say Infobarrel publishes a lot of dreck. So far, I've read at least 50 Hubs on HubPages, ALL of them without spelling or grammatical errors, and of interesting and informative topics. Basically, I feel HubPages attracts a more capable writer, at least from what I have seen so far.

5. Layout: The overall layout on HubPages is just more attractive, more pleasing to the eye. As authors, we have more control over what the final layout looks like. Also, there are more choices for 'capsules' or elements to include in the hub. On Infobarrel, you can add things like video, photos and the like, but being able to place links to other websites, articles and Hubs as well as Amazon products within the body of texts--specific products if you like, really give your work a well rounded look.

I'll keep you up to date on my HubPages progress and experiences, but for now suffice it to say, I'm hooked! If you'd like to check it out and read some of my 'Hubs' please do so here: http://alwritetea.hubpages.com/ Wanna sign up for HubPages? It's easy and awesome! Sign up here! Happy writing!